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Air travellers get a robot chauffeur

NO MORE mad sprints across Heathrow to catch a plane&colon; in future, driverless cars will zip passengers around London’s biggest airport. The Ultra system is intended to combine the convenience of a taxi with the capacity of buses or light rail.

The system is undergoing its final tests before opening to the general public, planned for later this year.

The Heathrow Ultra will carry passengers between the business car park and terminal 5 in just 3 minutes. Each “pod” can hold four people and travel at up to 40 kilometres per hour along 4.3 kilometres of dedicated roadway.